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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27096334">Whumptober 19</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Waywocket/pseuds/Waywocket'>Waywocket</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Steam Powered Giraffe</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-09 03:54:20</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,356</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27096334</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Waywocket/pseuds/Waywocket</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The Spine as been acting weird and Rabbit had had enough of it and goes to talk to him about it. She wasn't ready for what she found. This happens directly after https://archiveofourown.org/works/26965366 this.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Whumptober 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Whumptober 19</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Spine hiding from everyone had gone on long enough! First, he was keeping secrets. Pretending nothing was wrong, hiding that he was powering down at random. And Zer0 said he was running hot! Sure they didn’t have his upgraded blueprints, but he was still a Walter Robot. He was still her brother. They’d figure something out. </p><p>Rabbit stormed through the manor and pounded on Spine’s door. “Spine! Op-open up! You ca-can’t keep hiding from from us! We’re family.” Crossing her arms, she waited. Either for him to open the door or yell at her to go away. </p><p>When nothing happened, she got frustrated. Rabbit tapped her foot and knocked again. “Spine! If, if you don’t open the door, I’m co-comin’ in!” She warned. He was being ridiculous! As the big sister, he should have come to her! He didn’t have to take care of everything alone. He never made any of them face problems alone. </p><p>Again, nothing. A rush of steam came from her vents when he kept ignoring her. Grabbing the handle, Rabbit threw the door open. “Spine! You you you have to stop this, right n-n-now!”</p><p>Looking into the room, Rabbit froze. Her boiler ran cold as she looked at her brother. It couldn’t be true! </p><p>Spine was half slumped off his bed like he had tried to get up. Head tilted back, he looked up to the ceiling. His optics were open but dimmed out. There was no way it was what it looked like. The Spine wouldn’t do that to them. To her.</p><p>“Come on, Spine! Wake up!” She tried, laughing nervously. He had to be in stasis, this wasn’t happening. Some kind of prank! This had to be his way of getting back at her. Probably for that time she had tried to convince him that watermelon was safe for his boiler. It had taken all day to dig out all the seeds.</p><p>On shaky legs, she walked more into the room and grabbed his shoulders. He was cold to the touch. Oil sprung to her eyes, and she shook him. Rabbit shook his shoulders hard enough Spine's head smacked into the ground with a heavy thud and bounced as she kept trying to wake him up.</p><p>“Spine! This isn’t funny anymore, wake up!” She was yelling now, he needed to wake up! This wasn’t a fun game! </p><p>When that didn’t work, oil spilled down her cheeks, dripping onto his faceplate. She tried to connect to him through the wifi, but there was no signal. He was gone. There was nothing left. Rabbit screamed over wifi, begging someone to help her.</p><p>The message was heard loud and clear and a storm of rushing feet as they came to check on them. Half the manor had crowded the door, unsure of what to do. They could see them, but no one knew where to start. They didn’t know anything about how The Spine worked.</p><p>Six pushed past the crowd, struggling to get into the room. He wasted no time rushing to Spine’s side and checking him over. It only took a glance and, he saw the scorch marks on his clothes and his metal plating. It wasn’t hard to figure out what had happened. He had to hope they were just stressed, and he could fix the wiring.</p><p>“Get him down to the labs,” he said quickly, standing up to head to the labs.</p><p>“But, Six?” Questioned one of the workers. They didn’t have his blueprints. They’d be going in almost blind.</p><p>“I don’t care! We have to try,” Petes snapped as he started to go to the labs again. He wasn’t going to let him die without trying. He was family, and he wasn’t going to give up without a fight!</p><p>There was a brief and silent pause before Zer0 pushed in to lift The Spine in his arms. He carried Spine down to get worked on, oil streaming down his cheeks. He couldn’t let Spine down. He had always been there for all of them. They had to try Spine deserved at least that much.</p><p>Minutes passed like hours as Rabbit paced the halls of the labs. They had refused to let her in, but she couldn’t leave him. That was her brother in there! She should be with him in dire times. When she was feeling alone, he was always there. Sat at her side when she was at her worst. A constant that let her know everything was going to be alright. Now he needed her, and she couldn’t reach him.</p><p>Spine shouldn’t have even been on the table in the first place! He always took such good care of himself. Rabbit was the one that was always breaking down. The one that had tried to let turpentine erase her whole. The one with parts that were almost as old as the manor itself. She was the one with the damaged core! Her hand laid over her multicoloured core as it churned and pulsed faster in her chest. She couldn’t keep going without him.</p><p>He was always taking care of himself and, moreover, he was always taking care of her and the others. Always looking out for them. No one had tried as hard as him to keep the manor and all of the residence going. From offering advice to just being a hand to hold when the world felt too heavy. He deserved a good life. Not to have it cut short. Especially not just because the military wouldn’t share their secrets! It wasn’t fair! He wasn’t just some mindless machine. He deserved to have as much a chance as the rest of them.</p><p>If anyone should be there, it was her. She was the one that was always breaking down. Always falling apart and glitching. The one that was always a burden.</p><p>“It’s not right!” She screamed in the hall at the top of her billows. “It’s not right. The Spine should be fine! He’s supposed to be the strong one,” she cried, oil running down her face as she sobbed. Oil stained her dress as she hid her face in her hands. It couldn’t end like this. He had to get through this.</p><p>Six changed Walter Workers every few hours, not wanting anyone to get fatigued and make a mistake. But she never saw him. He stayed in the lab with Spine while Rabbit paced the halls. He wouldn’t step out until well into the next day. Six was hardly on his feet as he finally stepped out of the lab. </p><p>Before he could even look around, Rabbit grabbed his shoulders. “Petes! Petes, tell me he’s okay,” she begged, creaking from lack of oil. She needed to know he was going to be alright. He had to be safe. He had to be, she couldn’t believe anything else.</p><p>He looked at Rabbit, heartbreak somehow obvious through the keyhole mask. “I’m sorry, Rabbit. The wires melted together as he overheated. I can’t fix them. I can’t bring The Spine back.” He took a shaky breath. “I’m sorry, but he’s gone.” Tears fell from under his wooden mask, already dark with tears.</p><p>It felt like her core was being ripped apart again. Yet somehow, it was so much worse. She would have willingly given her core away to change what Petes had said. “No!” She screamed. “N-no! Get back in there,” she yelled. Grabbing Six, she tried to shove him back into the lab. “You haven’t tried everything yet! He has to be okay, he has to!”</p><p>Zer0 came when he heard the yelling and pulled Rabbit off Petes when he yelled in pain. In her desperation, she had broken his arm in her grip. Claws had dug into his lab coat, and his blood ran over her fingers.</p><p> Zer0 held his sister tightly while she screamed and sobbed. Silently, he cried with her as they mourned The Spine. Let her scream and cry until she couldn’t anymore. She leaned against Zer0, too low on oil to keep crying.</p><p>“It’s not fair! I’m the one that always breaks down! It shouldn’t be him! It shouldn’t be Spine!”</p>
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